Melbourne, Australia – As punishments go, having to stay at home for an extra long lie-in with Elizabeth Hurley doesn’t sound the most effective deterrent, but that was the sentence meted out to Shane Warne today by officials of the Big Bash League.
Warne had been expected to be severely disciplined following his explosive clash with Marlon Samuels during Sunday night’s Big Bash Melbourne derby, but a large media presence gathered at a post-hearing press conference reacted with surprise to his eventual sentence, a one match suspension and $4500 fine, a punishment that effectively meant he’d been given the day off work with no money to do anything other than spend it in bed with fiancée, Elizabeth Hurley.
Freelance cricket writer, Carl Robertson, summed up the feelings of many attending journalists.
“This is a travesty. Unless Hurley forces him to watch her performance in Bedazzled, there’s no way you could call this a punishment. It’d be a different matter if he had to spend the day with my wife! Wait, what are you doing? Don’t write that down you idiot.”
Marlon Samuels is yet to appear before the disciplinary panel after being charged for throwing his bat in the direction of Warne during the same incident. However, a source within Cricket Australia confirmed that his penalty is likely to be equally lenient.
“Let’s be honest, losing wood in front of forty-six thousand spectators is probably punishment enough.”